


A Gift of Beauty

by octopus_fool



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Botanical Humor, Gen, Gen or Slash, Humor, M/M, Misunderstandings, Plants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 19:36:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18169187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octopus_fool/pseuds/octopus_fool
Summary: Ecthelion has the perfect idea for a midsummer gift for Glorfindel. Unfortunately, his botanical knowledge is limited...





	A Gift of Beauty

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the following prompt of the B2MEM Bingo: March 19: B14 – Ecthelion (Card 81 - Five Books, Five Characters), Lotus (Card 25 - Botany).

Ecthelion was the first to admit that his interest in plants was limited to very few flowers. He did not know how often he had had to endure gentle teasing for his disinterest in the topic from Glorfindel in their hours together. And although Glorfindel kept suggesting to plant things in the fountains, Ecthelion felt rather disinclined to do so. It would only mean the fountains would have to be cleaned out more often. 

So if Glorfindel had not kept him waiting so long while attending to some urgent business, Ecthelion would never have leafed through the flyer lying in Glorfindel’s hallway. 

" _Sant-i-Gelais – Flowers, Plants and Seeds_ " 

Towards the bottom of the list with the plants and seeds they were offering was a word that caught Ecthelion’s attention. It took him back to the gardens and fountains of Tirion. Memories of elegant pink and white flowers rising from ponds appeared before his eyes. Taking a piece of parchment and a pencil from his pocket, Ecthelion jotted down the address on the flyer. 

He had been wondering what gift he could get Glorfindel for midsummer and this was the perfect idea. 

That evening, Ecthelion wrote a letter, ordering a hundred lotus plants for the fountains. 

 

Three days later, a cart arrived at Ecthelion’s house and a brown-haired elf started unloading pots into the courtyard. Ecthelion went outside and stared at the small yellow flowers.

“Excuse me, I think there has been a mistake. I ordered lotus plants.”

The elf looked at him uncomprehendingly. “Yes, one hundred lotus plants. That’s what these are.”

“But… in Valinor, they were beautiful pink and white flowers which grew in water. These… are not that.”

“Oh, you were thinking of _lotos_. I can see why you would prefer those, but I’m afraid there is no way of getting those anywhere in the hidden valley. I have to admit I was wondering why anyone would order one hundred lotus plants, usually people only want a few of them to plant them between other things to attract bees.”

The elf scratched the back of his neck and looked unhappily at the plants he had already unloaded. “Do you want to return the order?”

Ecthelion sighed and shook his head. “No, I ordered it after all and you’ve already gone through all this effort. I’ll figure out what to do with them.”

 

That evening, Glorfindel visited Ecthelion unexpectedly.

“What are all those plants doing in your courtyard? I thought you weren’t interested in gardening?”

“I wanted to surprise you on midsummer by planting lotos into the fountains.”

Glorfindel burst into laughter. “And you ordered lotus instead!”

“Yes. Apparently, there are no lotos plants in Gondolin.”

Glorfindel nearly doubled over from laughing so hard.

“You know, this is probably an even better midsummer gift,” he gasped eventually.

 

Glorfindel planted the lotus plants around his house. Whenever Ecthelion visited, Glorfindel made sure to point them out to him.

“Look at how beautiful the lotus are in bloom today!”

**Author's Note:**

> While there are simply several different plants that are refered to as "lotus" in English, other languages differenciate between ["lotus"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_\(genus\)) and ["lotos"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera) (and I think the same may have been the case in earlier times in English too). I went with the latter version in this, since I believe it makes it funnier.


End file.
